More specifically the city of Tyre. There was a dye they were famous for in ancient times called tyrian purple. Where can I find this color dye or fabric today, if anywhere?
2007-02-26 03:00:39 · 2 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
You refer to the color which is known as Tyrian purple. The Greeks called it "πορφύρα" , porphura (from the Greek word we have the word purple).
It is known as royal purple or imperial purple.
Ask it at any credited art dealer as royal purple or imperial purple and they will probably have it!
I am not quite sure if it is still produced by a marine snail as the original did or if it looks at all like the original!!!.
(if you are in computers you can reproduced(close enough) it as an RBG color :RGBa (r, g, b) (102, 2, 60) )
(remember the Tyrian Purple is closer to Red than Blue!!)
Hope it helps
(I did make a further research and I don't think that there is any reseller of the original pigment!!!!)
2007-02-26 03:15:54 · answer #1 · answered by ragzeus 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Variously known as Royal purple, Tyrian purple, purple of the ancients, this ancient dyestuff, mentioned in texts dating about 1600 BC, was produced from the mucus of the hypobranchial gland of various species of marine molluscs, notably Murex. Although originating in Tyre (hence the name), man's first large scale chemical industry spread throughout the world. With the decline of the Roman Empire, the use of the dye also declined and large scale production ceased with the fall of Constantinople in 1453 (29 May, actually). It was replaced by other cheaper dyes like lichen purple and madder.
http://www.chriscooksey.demon.co.uk/tyrian/index.html
http://www.artemision.free.fr/boesken/index.htm#galerie
http://www.kremer-pigmente.de/intl.catalog/36010e.htm
Bibliography of Tyrian purple
http://www.chriscooksey.demon.co.uk/tyrian/cjcbiblio.html
2007-02-26 04:45:12 · answer #2 · answered by MikeDot3s 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋